


Remnant

by TheLonelyClarinetist



Category: Hermitcraft
Genre: (adjusts infinity gauntlet), Action/Adventure, Gen, RWBY au, fine then, i'll do it myself, no stress-centric fics???
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-09-26 06:07:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20384908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLonelyClarinetist/pseuds/TheLonelyClarinetist
Summary: The world beyond the Hermits' Isles is a dangerous place. Other than thousands of miles of wilderness and the monstrous Mobs of Grimm that lurk in its shadows, nothing exists beyond the safe haven of player-kind's last bastions of civilization. Huntsmen and Huntresses train to fight against the threats of the Outside world and protect the Isles -- and to Stress, knowing these two fundamental truths of the server would have been enough to keep her satisfied for a lifetime.Winter, however, brings a change no amount of training could ever prepare her for. And what Stress discovers may place everything -- and everyone -- she loves on the line.(Takes place post-Build Off, pre-Area 77)





	Remnant

**Author's Note:**

> HENLO welcome to the Remnant AU!! this is basically a hermitcraft RWBY AU but you don't necessarily have to have watched RWBY to understand it (although i highly recommend it !!)
> 
> i'll post more details about this AU at the end of the chapter :3cc

The first dusting of snow told of a change Stress knew she would never be ready for.

She sat, quiet, under the birch tree, idle fingers tracing the fibers of her cardigan sleeve. The campfire crackled in protest of the ice buoying about the air, smoke trail meandering through the tangle of branches above. The forest still glowed in the fiery reds and oranges of late autumn, but a thin veil of frost had already begun to creep its way onto the trembling leaves. Under the weight of the coming winter, Stress’s heart sank just as heavily.

“We don’t have to stay here, y’know,” something about the pit in her stomach compelled her to speak. Her words trembled against the breeze nipping at her skin, searching almost desperately for even an inkling of hope. “I- I can take you back. We’ll get you proper help, I swear it. We just- we can’t stay out here. Not with you like this.”

In the space between Stress’s seat and the campfire, lying on the torn wool of what was left of her tent, a pair of soft blue eyes trailed up to meet her. They darted back and forth, analyzing the Hermit sitting restlessly before her. The life in those eyes was fleeting, and both of them knew it.

The woman lying before Stress mustered the strength to shake her head, a small breath escaping her lips. In the quickly freezing air, the mist of what Stress dreaded to imagine was the woman’s fading soul joined the campfire’s trail into the indefinite sky.

“Don’t worry about me anymore, Stress,” whispered the woman. Even her voice sounded like it would give at any second. “We wouldn’t make it back in time, even if we tried.”

Stress opened her mouth in protest, but the words caught in the lump in her throat. She closed it, biting back the tears pricking at her eyes. Deep down, Stress knew how she felt meant nothing. She’d only just met this woman not hours before this – she didn’t even know her _name_ – and death, in a world as dangerous as this, was nothing short of a punishing fact of life. Under normal circumstances, she would have allowed things to run its course, give the woman proper departure, and head home before she was next.

This, however, was anything _but_ normal circumstances.

“You know,” the woman’s voice coaxed Stress back to reality, “I ventured out here because I was given a mission.”

The Hermit remained silent.

The woman continued. Her satin words wrapped around Stress, shielding her from the dusting snow if only for a moment. “I’d been told all my life that I had a duty to uphold, that my entire existence was dedicated to this one mission. Awful lot of responsibility for one girl, don’t you think?” A silky laugh strained to escape her throat. “But...I don’t think I’ll get the chance to see it through anymore.”

Stress pursed her lips. Her eyes stared ahead, not daring connect with the icy blue irises she knew were fixated on her. The hand that traced along the fuzz on her cardigan abruptly balled itself into a fist. She loathed the idea of sitting idly by as the world claimed another. Deliberately allowing this to happen – allowing herself to _fail_ – pushed against every principle Stress adhered to out here. The woman was young, certainly younger than her...seeing her lying there, so frail and exhausted, felt completely and utterly _wrong._ Stress’s eyes squeezed shut, no longer bothering to hold back the tears that spilled over.

“You’re a Huntress, right?” Asked the woman. “I know that you have a mission, too.”

“And that mission is to _help people,_” Stress retorted, shifting from where she sat. “That includes you – I don’t _care_ what you say.”

The blurry colors of a teary-eyed world didn’t prevent her from looking back at the woman lying before her. Without much thought, she reached out and placed a gentle hand on top of the woman’s own.

“...You know that’s not what I meant,” said the woman.

The tears on Stress’s face ran cold. "What?"

“I mean that you have a mission, Stress. I know that Huntsmen and Huntresses fight to protect player-kind and all, but what about _you?_” – The woman’s icy fingers wrapped around Stress’s and gave them a gentle squeeze. – “Why do you venture out here and put your life on the line for others? _What is your true mission?_”

Stress blinked. She racked her brain for an answer, but no words appeared in the already-jumbled mess of her mind. Her mouth opened, then closed, then opened again – then eventually closed. Stress shook her head and groaned, the tears already welling up again.

“Please…” she pleaded, stubborn – and frustrated – determination rising from behind her tears, “please, just...let me take you home.”

The woman turned her head away and stared at the treeline above them. Flecks of snow brushed against her face, nestling themselves within the blue-blonde strands of her hair. Her lips curled into a smile.

"You've got a fighting spirit," she whispered. "Treasure it.”

“What?”

“The world is such a scary place. There are things out here that are capable of doing the unthinkable. But you…”

The woman closed her eyes.

"...It's people like you who remind me of all the things worth fighting for."

The crackling of the campfire subsided to its lowest embers, and the fiery leaves above no longer quivered in the wake of the wandering smoke. Between silent tears, the woman’s hand went limp. And in that quiet moment, everything Stress knew about the world turned on its head.

The snow continued to fall. Stress was all alone.

**Author's Note:**

> ayyyy i hope you liked this !! i havent written in literal goddamn years so this was kinda tough JSDFDSFN
> 
> ANYWHO so basically remnant is. a hermitcraft x RWBY au in which (almost) everyone is a huntsman/huntress and everybody has these unique superpowers called semblances. dw i know this chapter lowkey doesnt explain shit but BEAR WITH ME i promise things'll be delved into in more detail next chapter uwu
> 
> i'm phantom-flowerbeds over on tumblr if you wanna come check me out !! i have a link to the AU masterpost for more details on the main cast :D


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